1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a token with built-in IC chip that is used for a gaming machine that utilizes a token.
2. Related Art
A recent game that is manufactured in Japan and supplied as a video game or an arcade game combines the latest hardware and software technology. A composite art or integrated industry of the game with an advanced graphic display technology for displaying characters, backgrounds, etc., and a sophisticated speculative method such as plot development is highly evaluated not only in Japan but also around the world. A video game is a type of game to be played with a home video gaming machine or a portable gaming machine. An arcade game is a type of game that is played with an arcade video gaming machine installed in a game hall (so-called game arcade).
These kinds of games range widely and may include, for example, a racing game which displays simulatively a horse race or an auto race, a sports game which displays simulatively a baseball game or a football game, a story game in which a character moves freely in the predetermined region to obtain an item disposed on a map, and a fighting game in which a player may compete with a professional wrestling, boxing, sumo wrestling, judo, kendo (Japanese fencing), and other martial arts using swords or spears.
Recently, people especially enjoy a strategic simulation game among the provided video games.
In the strategic simulation game, the player controls a leader of a group such that the leader may direct a unit that belongs to the group and experiences a fictional strategy and combat in a virtual environment or space being deployed on a screen such as television screen.
In such strategic simulation games, the player controls, for example, a character of Oda Nobunaga (a leader of a group) who governs the Owarino-kuni (Owari region), organizes military commanders (a head of the unit belonging to the group) to be his followers, develops his own military group by utilizing a military draft and training, battles and defeats an opponent group (opponent group) lead by another feudal lord such that he may expand his own territory and finally unify the country during a fictional Japanese Warring States Period.
As described above, the player as the leader of the group in the strategic simulation game can battles an opponent by ordering the unit belonging to the group under various strategies. The player can gain various experience as the leader of the group and commanders of the units such that the player easily enjoy virtual strategies and battles.
Generally, the strategic simulation game requires several or several tens of hours in order to accomplish the final purpose. Many players devote themselves to the game over a long period of time enjoying virtual strategies and battles. In this respect, the strategic simulation game is significantly different from that in another category including an action game, a shooting game, a puzzle game, etc.
On the other hand, the arcade game is often elaborated. For instance, a music game for the player to actually dance or play instruments to a rhythm, an airplane simulation game utilizing a mock pilot's seat in the plane cockpit, and so on are quite popular such that some of them may become a boom in the society. The token game having been widely spread, however, still remains popular among the arcade games.
In the token game, the player purchases one or more tokens from a token inscription machine such that the player starts the token game with the gaming machine by inserting the token. If the player wins the game, a predetermined number of tokens are paid out. So, the player who has obtained many tokens through this can enjoy the game again without purchasing a new token.
In such typical token game as a roulette, card games, a horse racing, etc., the way to use tokens is quite simple. Therefore, it is not easy to provide the player with a novel sensation or surprise and it may become difficult to attract more and more players and to make the token game so popular as to make a boom.
Thus, recently, a gaming machine where an innovative idea is introduced is in demand and the gaming machine that utilize tokens has been provided where a plurality of players can simultaneously play a horse racing game that includes a breeding mode and a racing mode, as a gaming machine for a simulation game that utilizes tokens in order to respond to such demand.
In the breeding mode of such a horse racing game a plurality of players can, for example, breed and train virtual horses owned by the players by inserting tokens and in the racing mode the players follow the necessary procedures for a race such as selecting jockeys by inserting tokens so that the virtual horses owned by the player can be made to run a race while betting tickets for each race can be bought by inserting tokens so that the player can receive tokens in accordance with a race result.
In the gaming machine that provides the breeding mode and racing mode, as described above, however, the tokens are paid out in accordance with the result of each race and the number of tokens paid out is not closely related to the content of the game. In this regard, such a gaming machine that provides the breeding mode and the racing mode does not essentially differ from a conventional game utilizing tokens and, therefore, it is difficult to attract new players, unlike a gaming machine where an innovative idea is introduced.
Accordingly, it is possible to provide a gaming machine that utilizes tokens and have an entertainment value that a conventional gaming machine does not have, in addition to the entertainment value of the game itself, by adding a new value in the game to the tokens used for the gaming machine that utilizes tokens.